MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Debbie Dingell

Interview

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Joining us now is Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan. She is the senior Democratic Whip. Thank you very much for joining us tonight.

What was it like to have the president back in Michigan and this time with real support for the electric vehicle industry there?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): You know, it`s great. It`s always great to welcome the president. But you know, I`m a car girl, and he`s a car guy. So first of all, when you see him behind the wheel of anything, he`s a very happy man. And I like it when I see Joe Biden happy.

Also he`s here with a message, this is an industry that has got to lead the world on mobility. We`ve put the world on wheels and now we`re leading it in mobility and we`re doing it by going from the internal combustion engine to the electric vehicle.

O`DONNELL: The Tesla became the most successful automobile company in the world largely through government subsidies through the tax credits like the $7,500 that you can still now get for Tesla purchases. But because they`re not a unionized company the a much higher tax subsidy will apply to the General Motors electric vehicles and other electric vehicles produced by union workers.

DINGELL: You know, this is what I`m going to say. Part of what the president is doing, he came here earlier this year and was behind at that point (INAUDIBLE).

There`s three things that will make electric vehicles successful. One, they`ve got to be affordable. The Tesla has not traditionally been affordable and honestly a lot of people think that it`s a (INAUDIBLE) or a luxury car for many people.

The president, when he`s going into these Michigan plants, these are real products that people will want and have performance and utility (ph) and they`re real. They`re electric vehicles but they have the performance that customers want. And they`re being made affordable by these tax credits.

Two, we`re going to be investing in battery research so it has range and people have confidence in the range.

And three, as you`ve already discussed, they`ve got to know that they`re going to be able to charge the vehicles when they`re on the road. And we`ve got to upgrade the power grid.

And we get those three buckets done and so we will convert to an all- electric vehicle fleet. And we`ll well on the way to doing that.

O`DONNELL: How important is the charger component of this, in terms of what it`s going to mean for jobs around the country and getting those things installed?

DINGELL: Well, it`s going to be creating jobs. Let`s start there. And that`s one of the things we want to do in all this, protect American jobs, create American jobs at good paying wages.

But people need to have confidence that they`re going to be able to charge their vehicle. We have filling stations now. We need to make sure that they`re going to be able to charge their vehicles.

I`ve talked to someone who was into Tesla and couldn`t find any Tesla chargers in (INAUDIBLE). And we can work by building these charging infrastructure combining it in a public-private partnership. People are going to know when they`re on the road, they`re going to be able to fill their vehicle.

And by the way, ultimately, it`s going to cost a lot less to run that electric vehicle on that charge versus the gasoline prices we`re seeing right now, and have seen in the past.

O`DONNELL: What do you know about the voting schedule in the House at this point on part two of this bill?

DINGELL: We will not leave Washington, D.C. -- I`ve not gone back yet, I`m going to go back tomorrow -- without voting on Build Back Better. It could come as early as late tomorrow night. I`m someone who thinks it is more likely to be on Friday, Saturday at the latest. But we will not leave Washington until the House passes Build Back Better.

[22:54:50]

O`DONNELL: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, thank you very much for joining us tonight.

DINGELL: Thanks. Good seeing you Lawrence.

O`DONNELL: Thank you. And tonight`s LAST WORD is next.

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